Knockdown display rack



Dec. 6, 1960 L. v. BARNES KNOCKDOWN DISPLAY RACK Filed Sept. 5, 1957 INVENTOR. A 064M M Baa E5 4021a, mfw

ATTORNEYS United Sttes Patent KNGCKD OWN DISPLAY RACK Logan V. Barnes, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to Hartwig,

Incorporated, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsm Filed Sept. 5, 1957, Ser. No. 682,178

4 Claims. (Cl. 211-177) This invention relates to a display device comprising one or more interconnected panels or supports.

Each support desirably comprises a frame member which has at least two legs and hence is stable in one plane. Its connection through the supported panel with another similar member makes it stable in another plane. The connection is made by means of hooks which permit of pivotal adjustment between the panel and the supports and also permit of immediate disconnection.

Asa medium for displaying advertising or other matter, the device is extremely flexible and can be used in a wide variety of ways as will be hereinafter shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective showing a unitary assembly embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view showing partially in front elevation and partially in section the structure of the panel and its connection to one of the frames.

Fig. 3 is a detail view taken in section on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan view showing how a series of panels and supporting frames can be arranged in a square if desired.

Fig. 5 fragmentarily illustrates portions of two panels and an intervening frame in which the panels are in parallel planes.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of panels connected at a variety of angles to a completely disposed frame.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary plan view showing three panels connected to the same frame and projecting at different angles therefrom.

The display panel 10 may be of any desired size and may be made of any appropriate material such as hardboard, pegboard, wallboard or the like. I prefer that the panel 10 be enclosed in a frame 11 which, by preference, is made of slotted tubing of square cross section as shown in Fig. 3. The corners are mitered at 12 and the sides of the frame are connected by an interior angle 13 to which the frame sides are screwed by means of cap screws 14. The panel extends into the slot 15 and is of such dimensions that its margin abuts the angles 13, thereby positioning the panel within the frame.

At each end I provide upper and lower books which project from the frame. Desirably these hooks are made by bending at right angles the end of a shoulder bolt which is threaded through the frame into the corner reinforcing angle 13 in the manner shown in Fig. 2.

For supporting the framed panel 10, supporting frames are provided. Each of these is likewise made, by preference, from tubing of square cross section. Each of the supports 25 comprises uprights 26 connected at two or three levels by cross bars 27, 28, 29. The cross bars 27, 28 at the top and intermediate portions of the supporting frames 25 are provided at corresponding points ice with any desired number of apertures 30 in which the hooks 20 are detachably receivable. The arrangement not only permits the framed panel to be disengaged instantly and without tools from the supporting frames 25, but it also permits the supporting frame 25 and the framed panel 10 to be turned to any desired relative angle.

Fig. 5 shows two of the framed panels in parallel planes offset only by the spacing between those holes 30 of the supporting frame 25 in which their hooks are respectively disposed. It will be understood that at the outside ends of each of these panels, there will be other supporting frames 25 as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 shows a number of the framed panels 10 arranged in the form of a square in plan, there being at each corner of the square a diagonally disposed supporting frame 25. Fig. 6 shows in solid lines the framed panels 10 at right angles to each other and at an angle of 45 to the intervening supporting frame 25. However, in dotted lines, I have shown how the framed panels 10 can be shifted to different angles with respect to each other and to the supporting frame.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the arrangement is unusually flexible and permits the framed display panels to be organized in a display of almost any form or outline, depending on the dimensions of the panels used and their angles to each other and to the supporting frames. Since the pivotal connections between the panels and the supporting frames are maintained entirely by gravity and are engaged and released without tools, "a minimum of time and work is required to erect or dismantle the display organization. It will be noted moreover that both the framed panels and the frames 25 are perfectly planiform when disconnected from each other, thereby facilitating storage and transportation. Yet the lower ends of the vertical posts 26 of the supports provide spaced legs which make the support frames perfectly stable in their own plane, and the connection of the framed panels 10 with the support frames at points which are widely spaced in a vertical direction makes the assembly perfectly stable in the plane of the framed panels.

I claim:

1. A display structure comprising a generally planiform display panel elongated horizontally and having substantial width in a vertical direction, a plurality of generally planiform sup-port frames elongated vertically and having at the top thereof substantial width in a horizontal direction greatly exceeding the thickness of the display panel, said frames being disposed in planes angularly related to the plane of the panel, the support frames being of substantially equal width throughout their height and having laterally spaced uprights with foot portions upon which they are stable in their respec' tive planes and unstable transversely to said planes, said frames being further provided with cross members elongated in a horizontal direction and means releasably connecting the ends of the display panel to respective frames and including a hook in the panel which overhangs a cross member of the frame and an upwardly open socket in said cross member, said frame and panel being readily engageable and disengageable upon slight relative vertical movement of the frame and panel.

2. The device of claim 1 in which two of said hooks are vertically spaced at the end margins of the panel, said frames being provided with two correspondingly vertically spaced socketed cross members.

3. The device of claim 1 in which said hook is pivotal in said socket to constitute means on which said panel and frames are pivotally movable.

4. The device of claim 1 in which said socket is 3 intermediate the sidesof the support frames, whereby a substantial width of each support frame is at each side of the panel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 570,657 Beckwith Nov. 3, 1896 4 Kippels Oct. 24, 1899 Anderson Mar. 14, 1911 Guest Feb. 22, 1916 Bennett et a1. Oct. 20, 1931 Rowland Oct. 17, 1933 Bishop July 3, 1951 

